


Words speak louder than Actions

by jagaimocchi



Category: Kuroko no Basuke | Kuroko's Basketball
Genre: Humor, M/M, boyfriend!mine, but i like him that way, domestic!aokise, emergency fluff, established!aokise, kises a little shit, like so fluffy, mention of past one-sided aokuro (crush), not even sorry tho, this is gross
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-29
Updated: 2015-12-29
Packaged: 2018-05-10 04:55:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,582
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5571830
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jagaimocchi/pseuds/jagaimocchi
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Kise starts being incredibly vocal about his feelings for Aomine and Aomine, who is used to speaking with his hands, has a hard time adjusting.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Words speak louder than Actions

**Author's Note:**

> Boopboopboop *British English alert*

Kise said the most embarrassing things, and Aomine really didn’t know how to handle it.

It had started pretty randomly. They’d been sitting on their sofa, in their apartment, watching a movie premier on TV.

“I’m so lucky to have you,” Kise said during one of the most tense action scenes Aomine had ever seen. Not knowing which to look at—Kise’s blank face, illuminated blue by the television screen in the otherwise dark living room, or the muscly guy, desperately trying to control his breathing as a cyborg came round the order with a gun half the size of him—dark blue eyes flitted back and forth, strained.

“I, er.” The man on the screen gripped his puny little hand gun tighter to him. The cyborg took a step forward, mist in the background, and then—

**BANG. BANGBANGBANG. BANG.**

Aomine’s eyes were glued to the screen as the alien cyborg and the muscly man engaged in gunfire. By the time they’d finished and much to Aomine’s relief, Kise had fallen asleep, a sliver of drool glistening on his chin and dampening Aomine’s tee-shirt.

 

-x-

 

“You’re gorgeous in the mornings when your hair is all scruffy and your eyes are all deep and murky like the ocean floor.”

Aomine choked on his cereal. He was eating breakfast when Kise had called him. Kise had had an early start that day (“blah blah sunsets are romantic blah blah wedding brochure!”) but the blond had always been big on ‘good mornings’ and ‘good evenings’ so if he was away when Aomine woke up or when Aomine went to bed, he always took it upon himself to call.

_“I want me to be the last and first thing you hear every day!”_

“...Daikicchi? Are you okay?”

Aomine coughed, “Y-Yeah, I just, er, choked on something.”

“Okay, well I just called to say good morning! I have to go now, they’re calling me! But I love you! Mwah!”

“Yeah, yeah. L-asfgjk you.”

Aomine didn’t know why (they’d been dating for years after all) but he still couldn’t say it. Not unless they were in the middle of sex or Kise was so mad at him that only forcing those words out of his mouth would make him calm down. He rubbed his temple. On the other end of the line, Kise laughed as the phone call ended with a click.

 

-x-

 

“You’re so hunky.”

Aomine spat out his sports drink. Kise wiped his face with his towel, looking somewhat disgusted.

“Ryouta...”

“Don’t look at me like that,” Kise frowned, spinning the basketball on his finger, “You’re the one who just spat at me. I’m the one who should be angry.”

Aomine was speechless (and flustered as hell) as Kise turned his back to him and bounced the ball away. He turned back, looking over his shoulder with a shit-eating grin on his face.

“Come on, hunk! Another one-on-one!”

 

-x-

 

“Your arms, they’re so strong and awesome,” Kise said, stroking Aomine’s biceps in the middle of the shopping centre.

“Kise, we’re in the middle of the shopping centre,” Aomine hissed, eyes darting around. They’d gone _clothes shopping_ ; certainly it wasn’t because Aomine wanted to, but because ever since they’d moved in together Kise had started complaining about the lack of variety in Aomine’s wardrobe.

_“What’s wrong with what I wear?”_

_“Nothing!” Kise had said, a little exasperated after he'd picked up his fifth black tee-shirt. He was grouchy because he hated doing the laundry (they both hated doing the laundry, but it was his turn). “I’m just saying. That’s why you always have to borrow_ my _clothes whenever we go anywhere a bit fancier than Maji Burger. And you know they don’t fit you properly. And then you fidget for the entire evening. And remember that one time you actually ripped my good trousers?”_

Okay, so he had felt a bit bad about that, which was what made him eventually agree to go clothes shopping with Kise. But the man was testing his patience. Every time he got out of the little fitting room cubicle, Kise would eye him up and down, barely containing the lust in his eyes, and then he’d stroke Aomine’s arms, sometimes his thighs, even close to his butt (but never _actually_ groping him, which was just more frustrating), and then make a comment like “your thighs are like thunder and that’s great.”

“Y’know, usually when people say ‘thunder thighs’ they don’t mean it to be a good thing,” Aomine said, trying to diffuse the situation and regain his manhood. He adjusted the collar of the fancy shirt Kise had picked out for him and mumbled, “This is way too tight.”

“No, I think it’s perfect,” Kise sighed and took a step back, admiring Aomine from afar, “Your pecs are really defined and they look incredible.”

Aomine’s blush was something to behold, and he couldn’t even deny it because he was facing the mirror and he could see just how flustered he was getting. His face was glowing like a beacon at night.

“Goddamnit Ryouta, if you’re going to say stuff like that can you just come here and _touch me already?_ ” He hissed, stepping towards his boyfriend and reaching out to grab him into the cubicle with him. But Kise laughed and pulled his arm away from Aomine, just in time for the shop assistant to return from the shop floor to the changing rooms.

“Are you all right there, Sirs? Can I get you anything?”

“No thank you, we’re fine,” Kise smiled cheerily, “Just admiring how beautiful my boyfriend is.”

Aomine’s jaw dropped and the shop assistant was obviously equally shocked, except his professionalism made him laugh it off and say with forced happiness, “Yes, he does look very dashing doesn’t he?”

When they’d made their purchases and gotten to the safety of their car, Aomine tackled Kise in the passenger seat.

“Daikicchi!” Kise laughed, “Stop it! You know I—can’t—ah—I’m ticklish!”

“Shut up!” Aomine growled, reaching under Kise’s arms and poking him profusely in the sides, “This is punishment for what you said back there!”

“About—ah!—ahahaha—you being beautiful?—oh my—ahahaha—or do you mean—ahaha—my boyfriend?!”

“Both! Everything! Guh!”

With one final jab in the side, Aomine released a breathless and hysterical Kise and started the engine. Kise hummed the rest of the way home, seeming to enjoy Aomine’s grumpy silence.

 

-x-

 

They had invited Kuroko and Kagami over for dinner. Kagami had been teaching Kise how to cook for two months now, and Kise thought it was about time he showed them all how much his cooking skills had improved. Aomine had already eaten a few dozen variations of Kise’s shrimp, leek and spinach pasta dish and a couple of experimental crème brulees. The first attempt had resulted in food poisoning for the both of them (and apart from the puking it had been fun spending a few days off work together, lazing on their sofa and feeling sorry for themselves), but after that Kise had been more careful and he had actually gotten significantly better.

“I’m curious as to why you chose this particular dish,” Kuroko said, a small smile playing on his lips as his fingers traced the words on the menu Kise had prepared. Kise had bought special textured paper to print his menu on for their “first in a long line of many dinner parties!”

“Daikicchi likes prawns,” Kise smiled.

“Crayfish! I like crayfish!” Aomine shouted from his position on the sofa. Kagami and he were watching a reply of a NBL game from the previous night. Kise waved his hand dismissively, though he took note of the game score on the screen. It was great having a one-room open kitchen-living-dining area.

“So, as I was saying, Daikicchi likes prawns. And I need to eat my vegetables, and leeks and spinach are really so good for you! I can’t have too many carbs, so with a dish like this, even though it’s pasta, I find it easier to adjust the amount than if we were having a rice-orientated traditional Japanese meal, for example.”

“Yeah, and you can adjust the amount of butter you use, so it’s not that fatty too.” Kagami chirped in, slinging an arm around Kuroko’s shoulders. “How’s it looking?”

“Good! Everything’s chopped. I’ve made sure the prawns have changed colour so they’re actually cooked...” Kise laughed sheepishly. “Then I did the crème brulee earlier so all I have to do is flamethrower them later! That’s the best part!”

“It’s why he chose that dessert,” Aomine grumbled, yawning as he entered the kitchen. He headed towards the fridge to grab a beer. As he walked past, he made sure to grab a handful of his boyfriend's butt when—

“I love you.”

Kuroko and Kagami froze, and Aomine almost tripped and fell over.

“What the—Ryouta!”

“What?!” Kise pouted, getting a saucepan out from one of the overhead cabinets.

“W-We have guests!” Aomine was flustered again. Kuroko and Kagami were also flustered. The two slowly turned their backs to the couple and inched towards the living room area of the open plan apartment, trying to be as discrete as possible.

“Well you touched my butt first so...” Kise’s pout was extreme.

“That’s hardly the same,” Aomine said, eyes narrowing, “I was _subtle_.”

Kagami coughed in the distance and out of the corner of his eye, Aomine saw Kuroko punch the flame-haired boy in the arm.

“I was _so subtle!”_ Aomine insisted. Kise looked moody as he stalked past Aomine and grabbed a lump of butter from the fridge.

“You’re _never_ subtle,” the blond mumbled, hacking into the block of butter like he was butchering a small animal. “It’s so unfair.”

“Huh?” Aomine raised an eyebrow, confused.

“I said, it’s so unfair!”

Kise was mad. Aomine could tell because his nostrils always flared when he was mad. That, and there was way too much butter in the pan. “You always get away with showing affection and I _never_ get away with it.”

“What are you talking about, Ryouta?”

“You know what!” Suddenly there was a silicon spoon in Aomine’s face. “You always touch me when we have guests or when we’re in public, and it was your idea to start having sex outside as well, but nooo, when _Ryouta_ wants to be a little romantic in front of people your face goes all funny and suddenly, it’s not okay!”

Kise threw the prawns and the chopped leeks into the pan and watched them sizzle sulkily.

“What the—Ryou. This is your way of showing me you lo-

Crucial moment, and his tongue won’t function.

-blurgh me?”

“Of course it is,” Kise mumbled, poking at the prawns, “You touch. I talk. That’s how it’s always been.”

Silence, except the sound of frying food.

“Well...yeah, but it’s...embarrassing when you say stuff like that.”

“Like it’s not embarrassing when you grab my ass in front of our friends?” There was poison in Kise’s voice.

“But that’s different!” Aomine was starting to get frustrated. But one flare of Kise’s nostrils and he knew he was in a tight spot. “I mean. Our relationship’s always been really hands on, y’know? _Mutually._ But we’ve never been mutually vocal about stuff!”

“Well that’s because I knew you spoke with your hands and I thought if we weren’t all touchy then you wouldn’t get the message. It’s been years, Daiki. I thought that maybe we could, y’know, that I could...”

The kettle whistled signalling that the hot water was done. Moodily, Kise poured the freshly boiled water into a pot over the stove.

“You know what,” Kise said, his voice suddenly very calm, “Forget it. Chalk it up to me being selfish or something. It’s fine. I’ll stop _embarrassing_ you.”

Kise turned his back fully on Aomine and started working on the pasta. Aomine knew this was a definite signal that he was in the doghouse. Kise was rarely ever this cold though. Sure, he got mad a lot but then they’d shout it out, or to be more precise, Kise would cry loudly and call him names and then Aomine would hug him and apologise (because let’s face it, it was usually his fault). Then they’d play out their frustrations on the basketball court and grab a burger on the way home.

The only time that Kise had been cold to Aomine was back a few months after they’d first started dating, when Kise thought Aomine still had a crush on Kuroko but wouldn’t admit it.

_“It’s fine, Aominecchi,” Kise said. They were lying in bed in Aomine’s parental home, the futon his parents had laid out for Kise on the floor and unused. “I get that you have feelings for Kurokocchi, and that you have no control over them. It’s fine. I’ll deal with it.”_

_“Kise, I don’t—_

_“No, don’t make excuses. I see the way you look at him and Kagamicchi.”_

_Kise had rolled over, out of Aomine’s arms so that he was very close to falling off the edge of the bed. Aomine didn’t know what to do. Kise’s back was like a wall that he couldn’t penetrate. Was the blond crying? His voice was so calm but he was a big crybaby, and though Aomine always made his boyfriend cry something felt different this time. Maybe he wasn’t so smart, but Aomine had good gut instincts, and there was something about this that felt so wrong...Aomine’s gut said that this moment was important. And Aomine couldn’t let that go._

_He reached out a hand and touched Kise’s shoulder, but the blond shook it off._

_“Please, don’t,” Kise said quietly._

This moment was similar. Aomine’s gut was twisting in that way he remembered from all those years ago.

“Ryouta, babe, c’mon.” Aomine reached out to Kise’s waist and tried to wrap his arms around him. The blond stepped on his foot.

“No. Go sit with Kagamicchi and Kurokocchi. They must be worried about us.”

“Ryouta...”

“Daiki. We’re terrible hosts. Please go.”

He’d dropped the –cchi. It was a bad sign, and Aomine understood. He grabbed two glasses then two bottles of water and made his way over to the sofa, where Kuroko and Kagami were ‘watching’ the basketball game. Neither of them acknowledged Aomine, but both seemed a bit tenser than before.

“How’s the game going?” Aomine grunted.

“Probably better than your relationship.”

Kuroko punched Kagami in the stomach and he wheezed.

“Geez, who knew such tiny fists could hold such power?” Kagami coughed, taking one of the bottles of water Aomine had set on the table and neglecting to use a glass.

“We weren’t eavesdropping, Aomine-kun,” Kuroko began cautiously, “But that didn’t seem to go too well.”

Aomine grunted in reply.

_The sunlight that morning shone on Kise’s bare back. Kise’s skin was so fair; Aomine always marvelled at how the boy didn’t tan. On any other day, Aomine would reach out and stroke that skin: try and engrave into his memory just exactly how soft it was through the touch of his fingertips. Any other day, and he might even nuzzle into it, kiss it; use Kise as a pillow to bathe in the morning sun._

_“Kise...”_

_Kise rolled off the side of the bed completely and landed on the futon. Aomine thought he caught a glimpse of tears._

_“Kise, please come back to bed.” His tongue felt heavy as he anticipated the words he wanted to say, but like every other muscle in his body he knew how to control it—especially when he needed to. “I...I love you. Please come back.”_

_His hand was still outstretched when after a few moments, Kise sat up and keeping his back to the bluenette, he climbed back onto the bed. The blond slotted himself backwards into Aomine’s arms and heaved a big sigh._

_“I love you too.”_

_The sniff was a dead giveaway that he had been crying after all. But even so, the knot in Aomine’s stomach undid itself. He knew that everything was going to be okay then._

_Aw man, that was the first time I told him I love him,_ Aomine thought, barely able to focus on the game in front of him. He knew the results anyway. The news was terrible at giving people spoiler alerts.

Though it felt much longer, a few minutes later Kise called cheerfully from the kitchen announcing that dinner was ready. Serving generous portions to Kagami and Aomine, Kise gave smaller (in fact, normal) portions to himself and Kuroko then settled himself down at the table, a glass of wine in his hand. The couples sat side by side, but Kise was sat a little further away from Aomine than he usually would.

“I hope you guys like it!” Kise smiled sweetly, watching as Kuroko and Kagami picked up their forks.

“This is really good,” Kuroko said, mouth full of leeks, “These leeks are almost as good as when Taiga makes them.”

“Really?” Kise bit his lip. He had that habit when he got excited about something.

“Yeah Kise. Pretty good!” Kagami nodded, looking a mixture of pleased and relieved at what he was eating. “Glad all those lessons weren’t wasted on you!”

“Oh please, Kagamicchi! You know my Perfect Copy isn’t limited to basketball,” Kise winked then laughed. He picked up his own fork then started tucking into his own dinner as Aomine waited for him to ask him what he thought of the meal. But no question ever came.

“This tastes good, Ryouta,” Aomine said, reaching his hand under the table and clenching Kise’s knee.

Kise turned to him and smiled but pulled his leg away from him. Aomine felt his stomach churn.

“So Kagamicchi. How is being a firefighter?”

“Yeah, s’been good so far. It’s only been a month since I qualified so I still haven’t gotten used to all the equipment, especially because when they train you, it’s much less...chaotic? Yeah, I don’t know, but I think generally things are going okay.”

“Taiga comes home and tells me about how many times they make him do the ‘kitten in a tree’ runs.”

“Haha, yeah! Because I’m the newbie and stuff, they make me go. It’s like some initiation thing, I don’t know.”

“Wow, so people really call the firemen about things like kitten in trees? I mean, I thought that was just on TV!”

“No, Kise-kun. They really do call firemen out for small errands like that. I didn’t think it was true either until Taiga mentioned it.”

“Yeah, it’s crazy isn’t it? But—

“You’re perfect.”

All conversation stopped. Kagami’s impressive brows were furrowed and his mouth was half open, the next word on the tip of his tongue as he stared at Aomine. Kuroko looked surprisingly unsurprised. Kise looked like Aomine had just proposed to him; he was gripping his fork so hard the metal was leaving a mark on the palm of his hand.

“When you smile it’s like the sun rises in your eyes. You’re perfect in every way.”

Aomine tried to ignore the rising heat in his cheeks. He stabbed a prawn instead. Kise giggled, the muscles in his cheeks relaxing so that his smile increased in wattage. There was a slight pinkness dusting his cheekbones, just under his eyes—a pinkness that Aomine remembered well from when they’d first confessed to each other.

“Sometimes, I look at your jawline and I just think, wow. Like, wow!” Kise said, grinning at Aomine as he waved a gemelli in the air a little.

“When I see your collarbone peeking out from under your shirt, I just want to kiss you all over,” Aomine said, returning the grin and leaning towards his boyfriend.

“That muscle in your neck is so attractive. I just think, what did I ever do to deserve you?”

“Well that’s strange because I think the same thing. Every time I wake up next to you. Whenever you’re fresh out of the shower. When you walk around in just your underwear or when you fall asleep while we’re watching something on TV—

“I love you so much.”

“I...ah, man, do I have to say it?”

“Mmhmm...”

“I lo—lo—

“Don’t make him say it,” Kuroko interrupted them, gripping his fork like someone who was holding a knife and was ready to use it.

“I think I’m gunna barf,” Kagami commented, hand over his mouth.

“Hey, you said the food was good!” Kise said, eyes narrowed.

“The food’s not the problem,” Kagami looked over at Kuroko, “Aw man. I almost wish they’d just start making out in front of us again.”

“I know. I’d just started getting used to it.”

“Yeah, and now they throw this curve ball at us.”

The couple looked exasperated, but sighed then continued eating their food. At least being disgustingly vocal about their relationship had the perks of pissing off Bakagami, Aomine thought, smirking as Kise kissed him on the cheek.

“Would you like another beer, my love?” Kise asked.

“I’d love one, _sunshine_.”

“I’ll be right back _my big beauty_.”

“Take your time, _honeybunny_.”

“You guys are such terrible hosts!” Kagami roared, hand over his brow as Kuroko rubbed his back soothingly.

“It’s okay, Taiga,” Kuroko said quietly. There was a dead look in his eyes like a part of his soul had shrivelled away. “Let’s just not save them when Kise-kun burns the house down trying to flamethrower the crème brulees.”

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this ages ago but forgot my login, so here it is now! Happy New Year (almost)! *throws confetti at y'all*


End file.
